Global consumer confidence held steady in the second quarter of 2016 at 98, an index score that was flat from the first quarter and two points higher than a year earlier (Q2 2015). Confidence levels have been hovering between 96 and 99 in the three years since the first quarter of 2014. North America was the only region to sustain growth momentum in the second quarter with a three-point confidence increase to 111. All other regions remained essentially in a holding pattern, with relatively stable quarter-on-quarter index levels.

A year ago, only 12 markets out of 61 covered in the survey reached the optimism benchmark of 100—a number that was unchanged in the most recent second-quarter results (12 out of 63 markets1). Markets reaching or exceeding a score of 100 in the second quarter of 2016 included: The Philippines, India, Indonesia, the U.S., Denmark, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Thailand. All of these countries—with the exception of Peru, which exceeded the optimism benchmark in the second quarter with a score of 102—maintained an optimistic level in the annual time period. Conversely, Hong Kong’s score of 105 in the second quarter of 2015 declined 18 points in the past year to 87 in the second quarter of 2016.

In the latest online survey, conducted May 9-27, 2016, consumer confidence increased in just over half (56%) of measured markets. Among the world’s largest economies, the U.S. had a consumer confidence score of 113, marking the 10th consecutive quarter in which the U.S. score was at or above the optimism baseline. In both China (with an index of 106) and the U.K. (98), confidence increased one index point from the previous quarter, and it decreased one point in Germany (96). In Japan (69), confidence decreased four points; it was Japan’s fourth consecutive quarter of declining scores.